As any category supplier will tell you, supplying fresh produce to big supermarkets has become a cut-and-thrust business. But while getting the fruit and vegetables into the stores is a challenge, it is at the retail coal face that the action takes place.

Yet rather like searching for the Holy Grail, I wonder if anyone on the High Street - or just outside it - will ever come up with a formula which will really increase sales rather than poach a percentage point from the competition. After all the criteria for everyone is broadly the same.

Consumers may not realise it but most retailers inevitably source seasonally from the same geographical areas, and in many cases even use the same growers.

The alternatives to achieving growth still seem to be more larger - or sometime smaller - stores using price as the turnkey operation to increase footfall into store.

Having said that, I am more than prepared to accept that choice plays an important role, although I am not always sure about quality standards.

A trip along most shelves still provides evidence of fruit thatis either rock hard or over ripe, or of flaccid salad or vegetable leaves.

It is therefore not surprising that waste levels are still one of the most closely guarded secrets left in the industry.

All things being equal however, there are still opportunities which may ultimately play a decisive role in shaping the winners and losers.

Perhaps the most significant in recent years was the arrival of organics.

Reading Sainsbury's and Asda's plans for organics in the FPJ last week one must assume the sector is still on the increase - or is the news simply symptomatic?

As I understand there is still much debate throughout the industry over the best way to retail range. The maximum exposure is obviously derived from a specialised shop fitting, although I have heard suppliers complain this restricts the number of lines which can be displayed.

It also means those shoppers who are less committed, or do not have longer purses will walk straight past. So would more organics be sold if they were offered alongside the conventional range, where it theoretically could take over more counter space related to the branch's footfall?

Another is the expansion of the Fairtrade brand, but it suffers from its limited level of public exposure inside the store, although the concept has had its share of headlines. A reverse case perhaps for having a strategically sited unit, rather than competing on the same shelf.

And finally there is the growing demand for regional produce of which I feel sure we will see a great deal more with long-term marketing rather than a display which is dismantled within a week.

At least there are still opportunities to be different and hopefully, within it, actually increase consumption.